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Cross talk on home phone, please help

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njadmin

njadmin

Technical User
Sep 5, 2006
101
US
I've tried searching but didn't really find anything.
Seems I have a problem with x-talk in my apartment. It's obviously intermittent and hard to get the condition for Verizon tech to test. I was wondering if anyone might have some ideas on how to troubleshoot something like this when you only have access to one half of the problem. I know somebody opened the NID box and I've had VZ come out and verify and close it. Our building has the old POTS caps from the 20's (the ceramic screw type) on the inside of the building and I don't see any obvious cross overs. The line doesn't ring through but I can hear dial tone and talking fairly clear while I'm on a call. I'm just wonder what steps I could take here.

Thanks

Jason
 
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I know that OSP cable has no CAT rating, but I didn't know that there are some twists up in those cables. I thought they were pretty much straight with, maybe, some nominal shifting of pairs along the way.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.
 
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Ok I think I nailed it to the OSP cable from the CO to my building. I clipped my toner on the my line, then checked every pair I could and only heard tone on my pair (I did find out that somebody has church music on hold or something). So I'm guessing it's a crossed pair like PERRYPJ said. I'll try to hound VZ and get my pair switched.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm glad to know the problem is not in my building.
 
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Njadmn,

Reading all this deep trouble shooting procedures above. I don't see where you have even pulled the Verizon line at your demark and placed a butt set directly on the Verizon line and monitor it there and see if you have cross talk then. If you do, its Verizon, have them fix it. If you don't, then the problem lies within your house and you need get that resolved yourself.

If I missed it and you have completed this step way back in the begining,then my bad.


Phillip E. Porter
Senior Systems Engineer
Telecommunication Solutions Group, Inc. (TSG)
 
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Pepporter

I have tried to do that but it's not all the time. Hanging out in the basement causes issues with my neighbors (they're a-holes looking for something to complain about). It mostly happens during the day and I'm at work and the wife doesn't understand phone wiring and what to do (I've tried to explain just isn't clicking).
 
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peporter is right. UNLESS you do this step, everything else is a waste of time.
You could have cat6e pristine wiring throughout the facility....but if the co is screwed, that's that.
I don't get the whole
"I have tried to do that but it's not all the time. Hanging out in the basement causes issues with my neighbors (they're a-holes looking for something to complain about)."
thing.
If they are a holes, who cares what they think? Do it when YOU have time.
Cross talk doesn't disappear in a time of day on the co. Noise, xtalk, line disturbance is always there.
Schedule a telco meet. Unfortunately, YOU will need to take a day off from work. Make it a vacation, hang out with the wife day. Telco gives you a 4 hour window, so you really only need a half day off from work.
Sorry, but as Colin Cowherd (ESPN) would say, this scheduling is a YOU issue.
 
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CAT6 is a waste of money for an apartment bldg with POTS lines! It won't change anything related to dialtone or crosstalk.

metballnut, read my post above about CAT ratings!

....JIM....
 
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crosstalk is an easy fix if the problem is of a phycial nature (wires touching etc). A Verizon repairman can pick up that with with a sidekick test meter. If the cross is Inductive it is a little harder to find. If I was the Verizon repairman and I did not see a problem with a meter I would change the cable pair or pairs and see if that cleared the problem. Next I would change the OE in the CO.
The hardest troubles to find are the ones that only happen sometimes such as static or crosstalk.
 
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For standard voice applications, telephone wire (2-pair with the familiar green, red, black & yellow insulation) is all you really need.

If you want to get fancy, 4-pair CAT 3 would be fine. No need to go with CAT 5E or higher for voice.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.
 
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No not a dumb question, wireless could be a possibility, but I don't think that is the case here.

Only njadmin can tell us for sure.

....JIM....
 
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At first it was a wireless phone, but I have been using my butt set lately and can still hear it (without the wireless phone attached).
 
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Ok kewl... :) The guys/gals in this forum are correct. Until you isolate to the DMARC in basement its going to drive you nuts. No way of telling if its your premise wire or LEC and until you know this I would not spend any money replacing anything.

Bryan J Miles
Systems Engineer
Service Communications, Inc.
 
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just another shoot in the dark but could the talking you hear be a radio station? If the Verizon cable is not bonded correctly the cable can act as an anntena and you will hear radio.
 
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letman2
No I hear dial tone, dialing and the error tone you hear when you leave the line off hook until it goes open (as if somebody is trying to listen on their set). My wife knows the voice of the person she has heard on the line and I have heard it while on the phone talking to my wife.

The biggest pain is it's very intermittent, I can't really tell if and when that person is going to use their phone.
 
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Try this:

1) Isolate the inside wiring at the demarc.
2) Call Verizon from either another landline or cell phone.
3) Have them test the line and see what happens.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.
 
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If your wife know the persons voice, get the phone number and report both as crossed, intermittently. If you give them all the pieces of the puzzle they might actually be able to fix it quickly
 
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DanCarroll,
Just because she knows the voice doesn't mean we're friendly with them. This person used to work at the complex and has been causing trouble for us and other tenants. All though I might be able to get her number by clipping on and calling a phone or a dial back number.

hmm... I'll do that tonight.
 
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Any chance that one phone or the other has a bad ground (earth) and the good one is providing that pathway for the other?
 
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4946

What's the best way one can go about finding that out?
 
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